


Down

by JulzSnape



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Bonnie Bennett & Damon Salvatore Friendship, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Inner Dialogue, Loss, My First Work in This Fandom, Sleeping beauty spell, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 04:17:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17237273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JulzSnape/pseuds/JulzSnape
Summary: To choose between your best friend and the love of your life was probably the most ironic torture Damon had endured in his century and a half as a vampire.





	Down

**Author's Note:**

> Hello TVD fandom! I just recently got into the series (I know, I'm a slacker lol), but the idea for this fic came to me while I was listening to the song that inspired the title. The song is Down by Jason Walker. It's on the TVD soundtrack that I found on Google music, which is dated in 2010 so I'm guessing it's songs from the first and maybe second season? It's a beautiful song, go look it up and give it a listen! I hope my little tiny oneshot does the fandom justice! I may write more oneshots if inspiration strikes.

To choose between your best friend and the love of your life was probably the most ironic torture Damon had endured in his century and a half as a vampire. The old Damon would have gladly ripped Bonnie’s head off for the chance to be with Elena, but ever since he had fallen for her, Damon had changed. A vital part of who he was had been torn away and replaced with empathy, with love. He had always been able to form relationships with people, yes, but he had never before been so morally conflicted. Even if Damon hadn’t spent those hellish months in the prison world with Bonnie, he would still hesitate to hurt her, only because she was Elena’s best friend, and he knew Elena would be devastated. She would never forgive him if he sacrificed Bonnie to save her life.  
  
Damon hated that he cared so damn much. It was so much easier when he was able to compartmentalize. He kept his humanity switch on because he was heartless and savage enough with it on - there was no telling what he would turn into if he flipped his switch again. The beauty of not giving a fuck was that he didn’t  _ need  _ to flip his switch - that’s just who he was.  
  
But now...now he was someone completely different. Elena had changed him so completely that he wasn’t even sure who he was anymore. All he really knew was that sitting here next to an open casket, holding an ever-sleeping Elena’s hand was the worst pain he had ever felt in his life. However, any time he started to entertain the idea of killing Bonnie, he felt panic constrict his chest and his eyes began to well with tears.  
  
Damn it, this should be an easy choice! But the longer Damon sat and held Elena’s hand, completely unprepared to say goodbye for the next sixty or so years to come, Damon realized that it was never really a choice at all, and that’s why it hurt so much. He never truly considered killing Bonnie to save Elena. That’s how he knew that what he felt for Elena was more real than anything he had ever felt for anyone in his entire life. He could let Elena go to save her best friend - his best friend. He loved Elena enough to let her go.  
  
“Damon?”  
  
The soft voice was enough to break Damon out of his stupor. He blinked, realizing he had been staring at Elena for hours now. Stefan’s voice was both an annoyance and a welcome reprieve.  
  
“Yeah, Stefan, what’s up?”  
  
“Everyone’s here. I wanted to give you some time with her, but we have to put her someplace safe. I’m sorry.” Stefan’s voice was more gentle than Damon had ever heard it before, and Damon felt a pang as he realized he was being a bit selfish; Stefan had lost her too. They had all lost Elena, but he wasn’t ready to say goodbye. He never would be. At least he would see her again, but that was hardly comforting.  
  
“I know. It’s never going to be enough time, Stef. I’m never gonna be ready. I keep thinking, it won’t be so bad - I waited over a hundred years to see Katherine again, regardless of how that ended. On the other hand, I think of waking up tomorrow without her, and I can barely breathe. I don’t know how I’m going to get through this, brother.”  


“You won’t be alone, that’s how.”  
  
Bonnie’s voice was unexpected, but not unwelcome. As much as he wanted to resent Bonnie for being here when Elena couldn’t be, he was grateful he hadn’t lost her too. Damon flashed a half-hearted smile at his brother and his best friend, looking away from Elena’s sleeping face for the first time. It was then that he realized that the room was full of people, all there to say their goodbyes to his Elena. Their Elena.  
  
He allowed Bonnie to grasp his hand and help him up out of the seat he had been haunting for hours, gripping it back in solidarity as everyone else began to enter Elena’s memories and tell her goodbye.  
  
For some of them, it was a see you later. For others, it was truly a goodbye. Either way, they all had to learn to live without Elena for the foreseeable future. None of them were ok, but together, they would figure it out.


End file.
